Where it all began. My photography stall in London.
A trip down memory lane!
I was talking to a mate at the pub about my stall on Northcote Road, London between 2003 and 2012. I couldn’t find any photos on my phone to show him so I thought I must write a blog about my stall and where the photography on this website all began.
The pictures below show the trailer unit I had made in 2009 that replaced the stripy canvas stall that I had since 2003. You could walk in off the street and I had a selection of my prints hanging on the walls inside. I was also shooting weddings at the time and you can see I promoted those on the back of the open concertina doors.
Every Friday, Saturday and some Sundays I would tow the trailer into my allocated position on Northcote Road and when I’d finished for the weekend I’d tow it away until the next Friday.
You can see Tony’s cafe which kept the street traders going with tea and coffee. Chips were served with every dish even spaghetti bolognaise. I loved every minute of it.
Some weekends were fantastic and I would make lot of sales, others not so good. The weather played a huge part. A nice warm Saturday brought the families out and I would return home with a pocket full of cash. A drizzly February would kill trade and all of the traders would complain of meagre profits for the weekend. Christmas was the best time of year. I would also take portraits of families as well as sell my prints in the run up to Christmas. I also got a card machine that worked outside which was so cutting edge at the time. I do, however, remember a Christmas when it snowed every weekend in December. Even the Christmas tree sellers in the market had poor takings that year.
Some amazing jobs came as a result of having my stall on Northcote Road. An architect from a developer called Galliard asked me if I’d be interested in supplying the new Plaza Hotel Country Hall with framed prints at the end of Westminster bridge. You can read all bout The Plaza hotel job here. Lots of family photography sessions and weddings also came my way from the stall. The Clapham riots of 2011 were also very close nearby at Clapham Junction which worried us all and we didn’t trade the following weekend for fear of more violence.
Trading in the street in South West London was experience that I’ll look back on with great nostalgia and and it’s where my business as a fine art photographer all began.